So you’re thinking about undergoing a brand revamp – refreshing your image, your look, your voice and targeting an attractive new customer segment you aren’t resonating with currently – with the intention of increasing sales. It sounds great in theory, but if done incorrectly it can have the opposite effect. Before you begin down the long, arduous and expensive journey of rebranding, consider these five tips first.
- Understand your current customers: Most of the time companies go through a rebrand because of diminishing sales or because the company thinks its current customer base is no longer as lucrative as younger, newer customers. Although reaching the millennial crowd is enticing, these brands are likely missing out on opportunities to connect with and engage all of their demographic segments. If a brand is reinventing itself because of sales, it needs to be sure all options are considered as it relates to product assortment or location. Sometimes what consumers want isn’t a fresh brand, but better service or more product options. That’s a much less expensive and lower risk option than a full rebrand.
- Thoroughly understand your targeted customers: The opposite also holds true for targeted customers. Brands need to make sure that the new customers they are trying to target have the disposable income and reach to add value to the company or campaign. I can’t count the number of companies that have successfully engaged millennials, only to find a lack of commitment and spending power. Brands need to conduct thorough research to understand who they should actually be targeting.
- Measure betrayal: There will almost certainly be some level of customers who feel betrayed when a brand decides to go through a change. Before making the change, organizations need to investigate existing customer sentiment and how a significant change will be felt in the market. While consumers don’t gravitate to brands that are irrelevant, they especially don’t like hearing about brands that were not loyal to their core customers.
- Have a solid communication strategy in place: Don’t catch your customer off guard with a change. Communicate it early and update your customers throughout the process, backing up the brand change with positive messaging. This step can alleviate the pain from the previous step – betrayal. A sincere message that you are listening to customers can go a long way.
- Test often: After all of the focus groups, surveys and interviews, understand the reality of what people say versus what they do. Many companies that went through an unsuccessful brand change had great market research. Test, learn, then test again.
Whether or not you have a traditional loyalty program, let our Customer Experience (CX) and branding experts help assess whether a rebrand is what you truly need or simply better use of data and engagement tactics. We can do both. Loyalty comes in many forms – it’s what we specialize in and why we put the word “marketing” in Kobie Marketing. Contact us today.
